* Unit has been shut since Aug. 6 explosion, fire
* Expects normal operations in the second quarter
(Adds details, background)
April 2 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp completed repairs
to a central crude distillation unit at its 245,000
barrel-per-day San Francisco Bay-area refinery in Richmond,
California, almost eight months after a massive fire struck the
core of the plant.
The crude distillation unit, which does the initial refining
of crude oil coming into the plant and provides feedstock to all
other units, has been shut since the Aug. 6 explosion and fire.
Motor fuel production from the refinery has been cut in half
since the blaze.
“We are working to complete the final regulatory steps
required to restart the crude oil processing unit and expect to
resume normal operations in the second quarter of this year,”
Chevron spokesman Sean Comey said in a statement on Monday
evening.
The fire at the refinery — the third largest in California
and among the oldest in the country — sent a plume of black
smoke over San Francisco Bay and at least 15,000 residents of
surrounding communities had sought treatment for respiratory
irritation as a result.
The disruption at the plant, which accounts for one-eighth
of California state’s refining capacity, had contributed to
record high gasoline prices in the most populous U.S. state. The
state is largely cut off from U.S. national pipeline and
refinery networks.
Shortly before the blaze erupted, refinery managers and
firefighters had been seeking the cause of a leak on a heavily
corroded pipe feeding the CDU.
In January, California’s Division of Occupational Safety &
Health (Cal/OSHA) fined Chevron $963,000, the highest in the
agency’s history, for violations of safety regulations while
investigating the leak as well as during and after the fire.
“Chevron managers did not shut down the unit but instructed
workers to remove insulation, which led to the pipe’s rupture
and a massive fire,” Cal/OSHA said when issuing the fines.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is
probing the fire and its causes.
In December, the Board criticized Chevron’s choice of
replacement pipe on the CDU, formally called Crude Unit No. 4,
setting off contentious hearings at Richmond City Council before
the city issued permits allowing the repairs to begin.
At the end of January, Chevron said it had paid out $10
million to settle some of the claims stemming from the fire. By
that time, nearly 24,000 claims had been filed for damages from
the fire.
(Reporting by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri in Bangalore; Editing by
Himani Sarkar)
